XIMENES CROSSWORD No. 165

CABBAGE

1.  W. K. M. Slimmings: One of two joint accompanists picked for a performance of Madame Butterfly! (cryptic def.; meat & two veg.; cabbage-butterfly).

2.  L. C. Wright: What’s to be gained by the Clipper? Fly British—there’s plenty of time! (cab B age; cabbage²; fly = light vehicle on hire, (hist.); Clipper brand of Pan Am).

3.  Rev J. G. Graham: The taxi’s taking a b—— long time to reach the Savoy! (cab, b, age).

H.C.

J. W. Bates: The abbot in jail?! Yes, the cloth’s been pinched! (Abb. in cage; cloth = the clergy; cabbage²).

Rev B. Chapman: A couple of bishops are jailed for abuse of the Cloth! (a, B, B in cage; cloth = the clergy; see cabbage²).

F. A. Clark: In prison you’ll find a yarn may help you to tolerate even the bully (abb in cage; bully² i.e. c. may hide the flavour).

Mrs D. Fuller: It’s nice and green. Let’s hope it won’t be wet for our festival visitors! (wet cabbage; ref. Festival of Britain 1951).

S. B. Green: W. S. Gilbert unfortunately caught in a lift at the Savoy? (anag. of Bab in cage; Bab = pen-name of W.S.G.).

H. J. Howells: There’s a warp in the container: it’s green stuff—wants well seasoning (abb in cage).

C. Koop: This kind of grub at the Savoy can be ruinous—a little dear chez Maxim’s too! (cryptic def.; cabbage grub; ref. Savoy & Maxim’s restaurants; chou (Fr.)).

F. P. N. Lake: A B.B.C. variety turn is green with age—all stolen material, too! (anag. + age; see cabbage²).

F. E. Newlove: A thing of snips and patches … Snips, isn’t that wrong? (cryptic defs.; snip = a small piece cut off (cabbage²); cabbage patch; Snips = tailors).

E. J. Rackham: Should be barred if it has no heart (as greengrocer’s customers will agree!) (ca(bba)ge & lit.).

E. T. Smith: Cloth detained. Abbot in prison (Abb. in cage; cloth = the clergy; cabbage²).

J. Thompson: Appropriate material for a B.B.C. Variety Time (anag. + age; cabbage²).

H. S. Tribe: Cole Porter’s stock-in-trade wins heart-felt approval in Housewives’ Choice (cryptic def. i.e. a cole porter transports cabbage, housewives inspect cabbage hearts).

M. Woolf: When pickled it’s best to take, steal or otherwise beg a cab (anag., 2 defs.; cabbage^1,2).

RUNNERS-UP

Rev H. H. J. Crees, B. C. Cubbon, E. C. Double, Brig W. E. Duncan, T. Dwyer, M. G. Ellis, L. E. Eyres, Mrs N. Fisher, Mrs A. W. Fuller, A. B. Gardner, C. E. Gates, D. Godden, P. A. Harrow, E. A. G. Junks, R. Lumley, E. L. Mellersh, T. W. Melluish, W. L. Miron, C. J. Morse, A. C. Norfolk, E. G. Phillips, E. R. Prentice, Mrs J. Robertson, A. Robins, I. F. Scott, L. E. Thomas, J. G. Wellman, H. H. Wiles.
 

COMMENTS—162 correct in an entry which may, I fear, have been reduced by the London postmen’s strike. Solutions were very slow in arriving: I have included a batch which didn’t reach me till Monday morning, but there are’ still a large number of very regular entrants from whom no entries have come and I can’t wait any longer. Bad luck ! Moral: post early. I expect there would have been a fairly big entry: it was not a difficult puzzle apart from COLLINS, which caused much trouble. I had no idea that a Collins = a bread-and-butter letter (derived from “Pride and Prejudice”) was so little known: in fact I thought it was in common use. I see it is given in The Reader’s Encyclopaedia (Harrap): being a proper name it didn’t have to be in Chambers. The subsidiary clue, involving rare Chambers words, wasn’t enough alone for many solvers. LATE also seems to have been elusive: “to dally” = “to be late” and “after the fair” (fair = fate) is surely not uncommon as a phrase for “late.”
 
Thank you for information as to first and last words solved. The commonest first words were Itchen, arrests, Pippa, Camembert and Gregson in that order. Collins stood out a mile as the last word solved: of the few who didn’t get that one last, more than one mentioned besiege. Of the first words, it is noticeable that two of the five anags. are included, two simple divisions into parts and one hidden—none of the straight or straightish clues. It seems that proper names, when familiar, tend to be the easiest words to get. I will make no definite deductions about the solubility of a “straight clue” puzzle until I have further evidence: there weren’t many such clues in this puzzle.
 
I get occasional wails about recondite geographical names. The atlas I use most is the one in the Everyman’s Encyclopaedia (Dent). Don’t forget that there is always an easy subsidiary clue to such names—e.g. Breg this time: solvers can trust these. I can’t… [last lines missing].